Downtown Eastside asks for climate change support for unhoused

Downtown Eastside community members and the Union Gospel Mission are calling on the city of Vancouver to address the impacts of climate change on people experiencing homelessness. 

On Wednesday, the charity and the University of British Columbia released a report that said climate change impacts, like increased air pollution and extreme weather, disproportionately affect unhoused people in the Downtown Eastside.

"This city has enough money to do that. Don't tell me there's nothing out there," Leonard Staley, who has been homeless for five years, said. "Things need to change, and they need to change fast."

The report said toxic drug deaths increase when extreme heat and cold affect the Downtown Eastside. At an annual outreach event the same day, the charity called on the city to fund efforts like increasing housing, building rainwater catch basins downtown and delivering water to people in temporary housing.  

In an email to CBC News, City of Vancouver spokesperson Pinder Rehal said the city "works closely" with support organizations and nonprofits in the Downtown Eastside. She said when extreme heat or air pollution happens, the city's outreach team and partner organizations share information about where to find help.

"What we want to see is the city really prioritizing our community," Union Gospel Mission spokesperson Sarah Chew said. "[Climate change] has led to sickness. It has led to death. So we're ready to see change.

Dr. Kevin Liang, a family physician and member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, said the report's findings "mirror what he sees in his clinic in Vancouver."

"People experiencing homelessness are on the front lines of climate change," he said. "These are the individuals most likely to be impacted by these extreme weather events."

When record-setting wildfires blanketed the province in smoke, Liang recommended that his patients shelter indoors. But he said many in the Downtown Eastside can't.

Researchers expect extreme weather, like wildfires and severe storms, will occur more frequently as the climate changes.

The Union Gospel Mission also called on the city to increase the amount of green space and shade in the Downtown Eastside. 

Mikey Joseph, a person not affiliated with the charity who became homeless last July, escaped last summer's heat in the shade of Dude Chilling Park. 

When Joseph found himself outside in the wind and rain last week, he went to the Union Gospel Mission. It couldn't take him in but gave him a poncho. He ended up falling asleep in a Tim Hortons, out of the cold. 

In its report, the Union Gospel Mission said the city needs to allocate more of its budget to groups that support unhoused people in climate emergencies. 

"The city needs to be prepared for climate change because they don't know for sure what the weather is going to be like today or tomorrow," he said. 

Staley said that in the extreme cold when all the shelters in Vancouver fill up, unhoused people gather along Hastings Street in the few tents that have power and electric heaters. Some people try to warm up by lighting fires, he said, which puts their tents and lives at risk. 

WATCH: What one Vancouver woman does when temperatures drop: 

This unhoused person says she has nowhere to go as temperatures drop

1 year ago

Duration 3:09

Zee Roy in Vancouver says she has struggled to find space in shelters and one of the few places she can find refuge is camping in a park. She says she wants municipalities to stop breaking up encampments because people are desperate, especially as temperatures drop.

Staley said the only thing that can help is more housing. The 64-year-old said he's been trying to get accepted into supported housing for months. He wants the city to create more housing and limit rents to help get people into more permanent housing. 

"I need a place. I'm going to be a senior next year, and I still don't have a home," he said. "It makes me feel disappointed, angry and very frustrated."